Forum for Cities in Transition

The Forum for Cities in Transition hosted its third annual gathering in Kirkuk, 6-11 October 2012.

This year’s conference brought together international delegates from 11 cities to share information, discuss models of best practice, examine ways of improving community relations, and identify programmes and projects that delegates developed and declared on the final day of the conference to implement in their home cities or as joint projects within their sister cities. Over two dozen outcomes were pledged and will be delivered by the Forum cities.

For complete coverage of this year’s conference please see the Kirkuk 2012 page.

“Forum for Cities in Transition: The Power of Place”
by Ban Al-Mahfodh (UMass Boston William Joiner Center) and Ryan Bruen (Northeastern University)

The Forum for Cities in Transition

The Forum for Cities in Transition is an international network of mayors, councillors, municipal officials, business people, and representatives of the voluntary and community sector.

The Forum works on the principle that cities that are in conflict or have emerged from conflict are in the best position to help other cities in the same situation.

The Forum for Cities in Transition is an initiative of the John Joseph Moakley Chair at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The Secretariat is shared by the Northern Ireland Foundation and the Moakley Chair.

The logo for the Forum for Cities in Transition was based on the semi-circular arrangement of tables for the plenary sessions at the initial conference that took place April 14-16, 2008, at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. There is further inspiration from King Arthur’s famed Round Table, with no head and everyone who sits there having equal status. In this design, the circle is presently half-complete, but with leaders of each city at their place, there will be collaborative work among Forum participants to realise a full circle.